According to Sharma, lack of demand and policy moves with central bankers are spooking global markets. Markets will continue to trend lower than higher in H1 2016," he said.

ET Online|

Jan 19, 2016, 12.54 PM IST

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'Govt not letting petrol prices fall, pocketing crude gains'

NEW DELHI: Stating that demand rival is essential for growth, Shankar Sharma on Tuesday blamed the government for not letting petrol prices in India fall. "Government is pocketing crude gains currently. We would have seen demand revival if the government let petrol prices fall in India," Shankar Sharma told ET Now.

According to Sharma, lack of demand and policy moves with central bankers are spooking global markets. "We are not seeing any demand revival despite global interest rates being near zero. Markets will continue to trend lower than higher in H1 2016," he said.

Sharma is not surprised by the global market turmoil and attributed the market volatility to issues in China's economy. "There is no point in getting surprised by the direction of global markets, they have been down due to China issues from last year." Sharma went on to add, "I don't see markets rising in a hurry currently."

Sharma was however quick to say that "pockets of hope are seen in India currently."

Sharma has earlier said that there is no immediate end in sight to the crude oil crisis. "This is going to leave the entire West Asian region completely bruised," he said earlier this month.

"It resembles a perfect storm, which has been triggered by the fall in crude oil prices, which are trading near 12-year low," Sharma said on the sidelines of the ET Awards for Corporate Excellence on January 9.

Sharma said $20 a barrel was where the long-term price level where the commodity traded for decades, barring short period during 1970s and 1980s. "Whether oil goes to $20 or $30 level, the damage has already been done. What more damage could it do, if it falls to $20. The real challenge would be that of currency," he said.